More pictures :)

Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas?!  Well ours was pretty darn good considering it's not a traditional Canadian Christmas.  I don't think I'll ever get used to Christmas being in the middle of summer!  But it was nice, some of the in-laws came over and we had Christmas lunch together in the sun :)  Complete with BBQ prawns and pavlova ;)  yummm.  Opened our pressies, had some yummy dessert and just enjoyed each others company for the afternoon.  And I burnt nothing ;)  hehe.

Max chillen' out in the sunshine.

Some nice close ups of the boys.

I'm on my third day of four days off in a row and it is wonderful!  I could sure get used to this not working thing!!!! ;)  And what makes it even better is the summer weather and Dan's company!  Dan and I headed down to St. Kilda beach yesterday, we had SUP in mind (stand up paddle board) but it was a wee bit too windy to go out by the time we got there.  But that's ok, we ended up basking in the sunshine on the beach there and watched the kite surfers for the afternoon, was so nice just to chill out, enjoy the sun, each others company & listen to the waves.  We had lunch there too at this place right on the beach, the food was average but the setting was cool.  After our chill time on the beach we decided to head for a wander around Acland Street, St. Kida has to be one of my favourite spots around here.  I find that funny because it's a very busy area full of people (which I tend to avoid crowds) but it's such a great atmosphere, very chill, vibing with culture & colour, it's one of the artistic areas of the city, so not your average uptight business suites all over the place there.

Took a wander into Luna Park, a year round circus in St. Kilda.  Still have yet to go and enjoy the rides, one day (on the bucket list:), but it was fun just soaking in all the fun everyone was having.

Took this one for Dan, he liked the fixie.

The bakeries along Acland Street are SCRUMPTIOUS (and there's tons of bakeries, cafes and restaurants along there!  They all look like this, FULL of deliciousness.  We were very tempted, but no, we were good and didn't have anything.

Love the buildings/houses around the city, most are like this (obviously each different though), terrace homes, lots of character and absolutely beautiful.  The streets team with trees like a tunnel, it's stunning.

Dan's Chrissy gift, fixed speed bike :)  That makes 4 in total for him so far.  There kind of like accessories, one for each kind of weather/terrain ;)

'throw another shrimp on the barby?' ;)  Chrissy lunch.

Yummmmmmm

Chrissy gift from Mum, was a hit ;)

Gift time! :)  Say cheeeesseee.  

Will have to get Junior a stocking next year ;)

Looking at these two photos makes me want to eat these all over again!  Yum!

Rel's home made pavlova.

Junior in his favourite spot :)

Had to put this photo up, love the dopey look on Junior's face.  Both boy's giving Rel a warm licking welcome :)

Well, I've got 7 weeks left in this job....not that I'm counting or anything ;)  Really looking forward to working part time, going to work, doing my job and going home, nothing more.  Of course these team leader roles have been a great opportunity but also very wearing and takes up a LOT of my life and I've come to realize I'm not one of those people that live to work, I've realized that I'm the person that work is a job and nothing more, my life is separate and I'm happy with that :)  Just need more time to have that life!!  I'm really looking forward to studying, nervous, but excited, not sure what to expect but still excited.  So just troop on through until then.

Still wedding planning, it's a constant now and probably will be up until the wedding.  Got my 'to do list' for each month up until the date, should be manageable :)  As we get more plans sorted and getting things we need ie: bridesmaid dresses I get so much more excited!  It's going to be absolutely wonderful especially surrounded by family and friends! xx

Dan and I went to see The Hobbit a couple nights ago, man was it a long movie!!  Luckily none of it dragged but my butt was sure numb afterwards!  We also saw Pitch Perfect the other day, SUPER funny!  Recommend both if you haven't seen them already.

Well, that's about it, best leave it at that seems it's getting long again.  Hope you all had a great Christmas and soon to be a wonderful New Year!  What an exciting year ahead we all have to look forward to! xxx

Merry Ho Ho

Merry Christmas from down under!

And a very Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday filled with love, laughter & joy.  

Thinking of my family and friends on this special holiday who I couldn't be with, you are in my heart and in my thoughts.

So many wonderful Christmas memories to be thankful for :)

Sending big virtual hugs to you all

xoxo

Merry Christmas!!

Well I can always tell it's been awhile since my last post b/c of all the pictures I have! :P  Sorry, life's a bit nuts right now but finally found some time to get you all caught up :)  Make sure you have a bit of time b/c this one's a long one and don't forget to scroll all the way down, don't want to miss anything ;)

Had our IKEA Christmas Party the other week, it was good fun, they always seem to be.  Everyone got to get all dolled up (out of our beautiful yellow...cough cough uniforms;).  Free food and free drinks, gotta like it :D (which is dangerous too!  Especially when there's a bus service:P  All I can say is ouch the next day.)  It was just a good time, caught up with some people I haven't seen for a little bit since I swapped departments and got our dancing shoes on :) 

This was taken awhile back but I thought you might enjoy :)  hehe, Dan had put the chair outside the sliding door to sit on and he got up to go inside and this was what he turned around and saw :)  hehehe, makes me smile. 

Junior's decided to start digging again and getting underneath the deck, problem is he doesn't come out unless you coax him.  lol.  We've fixed it now so he can't get underneath but it was pretty funny and annoying at the same time.

Some of the communications and interior design girls, hopefully I'll be in the department 2014!

Found this little guy in our garden, if you can spot him, a froggy!  Which is weird b/c we only normally get frogs in our back yard when it's cooler, raining and at night but this little guy was out in the middle of a hot day.  We had gecko's on our bathroom window the other night too!!  Usually only get little lizards and they creep along the ground but there was two gecko's on our window, so cool!!

Our Chirssy tree for this year, a bonzai :)  Dan likes to collect bonzai's and he spotted this one a little while back, so I went out and bought it for him and decorated it like a Christmas tree.  Think it works well! :)  Plus it takes up less space.

Junior watching TV...hehehe :D

Girlfriend from work bought these for me the other day, was feeling a bit stressed out for a number of different reasons and she brought these into work for me :)  I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people around me xx

FRUIT PIZZA!!!! :D :D  YUM!!  I made this last weekend for our family Christmas Lunch we had up at the in-laws place.  I think I might have to make another one sometime soon, it was SO good!!

We're dog sitting Max at the moment for a few weeks, his owner's have gone to England to have Christmas over there and we offered to look after him.  This was on the way home from Christmas Lunch last weekend, they had a grand old time sniffing, playing, chasing the cricket ball.  Very cute and very exhausted.

Vanilla Slices, yummy!!  I made two batches of these yesterday for work, they were having a fundraiser for UNICEF and proceeds from the baked goods co-workers made went straight to UNICEF (sold to staff only).  Some yummy stuff there.  IKEA does a soft toy campaign every year and proceeds go to UNICEF which is really cool, we're a bit behind what we'd like to raise this year so they thought they'd do a teddy bear picnic and co-workers to bring in baked goods.  Pretty cool.

I didn't know we were dog sitting Houdini!!  Little mungrel got out of the pen every day this week!!  Finally tied him up today and he still got out, but he was still tied up so he couldn't get very far!  That'll teach him!  Little bugger dug up part of the garden and we had just put fresh mulch down :(  Sigh, oh well.

Besties :)

Pavlova!!  Yummy :)  Rel made this for Christmas Lunch last weekend, one of her signature desserts and we get her to make it every year.  It's delicious!  Can't wait to have another batch on Christmas Day when they come over here for lunch!  Christmas at ours this year, should be new, we've never hosted Christmas :)  Luckily we've got a dining table this year ;)

Jackson amusing himself for a little while, he's what I'd classify as the 'class clown' :P

Good ol' Aussie Chrissy, cricket in the back yard.  Jayden haven a swing and Junior trying his hardest to get that darn cricket ball :P  (Christmas Lunch last weekend)  We had it b/c Andy and his family are gone for Christmas camping, so we had the lunch all together and then we'll have Christmas day at ours with the rest of them.

Rob, Andrew & Paul 

Andy trying to keep Junior occupied from stealing the ball :P  lol.

Just one of the many gorgeous plants in Sue & Rob's backyard.

Rel, Olivia & Robyn

Dan haven' a crack.  Was good fun to watch, I had a go but was completely useless but still good fun :)

Just a few photos from the 'family photo day' we had a little while back.  The three brothers above, family below :)

Had a go at the driving range the other week.  Was feeling a bit of pent up frustration/anger from everything that's been going on lately and a friend suggested 'whack f****', pretty much whack the crap outta some golf balls.  Was good fun, Dan and I had some good laughs as we missed the ball or I hit them straight up and they bounced off the roof.  Did hit some good ones too ;)

Finally got a phone call from school today, I did receive my letter of offer in the mail the other week but I need to get in sooner to get all the info so I can sort out stuff in Canada they said they would give me all the details within the next couple of days!!  Exciting!! :)  I spoke with a guy at work today who's doing a similar course as I'm going to and he said it's really good, that I'll enjoy it.  2ish more months!!! :D :D  Looking forward to putting all of my energy into something else for awhile, something I think I'm going to enjoy.  Will be nice to step down from work for a little while, have less responsibility/stresses.

What else?!  Of course we can't forget about wedding!  Been busy busy bit by bit getting things planned.  Got all the bridesmaid dresses in the mail last week which was exciting!  But of course I can't tell you much about them b/c I want it to be a surprise ;)  I had my first dress consultation last week, Rel & Sue came along which was great, went had some lunch afterwards, nice day out :)  Of course I can't give you any details on the consultation either ;)  hehe.  Waiting on some sample invites in the mail then hopefully order those, next will be booking accommodation, hopefully we get what we want/need there!

Alright, well it's dinner time and this post is getting pretty long so I guess I should wrap it up.  I'll try to not leave it so long between posts for next time.  Love to you all and of course.....

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!!  

Big hugs to all of my family and close friends, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas full of love, laugher & joy :) xoxo

You Should See The Other Guy...

Well, it just never ends does it?!  I've officially finished my first two weeks of my new job and all I can say is I'm still not sure if I like it or not?!  It's a lot more customer focused and the customer is 'always' right!  UGH!  I got yelled at the other day by and angry woman who didn't want to provider her I.D. to drop her child off in Smaland, it's part of the legislation.  That was fun....NOT!  Had to get two other managers to help me calm her down and talk to her, she just wouldn't listen, wouldn't let us get a word in edge wise.  Oh well.  Still getting used to it all I suppose and if worse comes to worse it's only until mid-Feb...right?!  I'm doing a lot more over time in this job too (which sucks!  Especially b/c I don't get paid for it) and the management team have a habit of not taking their breaks or giving me mine, so I'm over worked and always hungry/tired!  We'll see how this week goes...

Got my first Remedial Massage the other day.  It's a deep tissue massage, kind of like a sports massage.  Man it was painful, but felt so good.  She worked on my calves and my back and as you can see above, she did some cupping on me:

"Cupping is an ancient Chinese therapy in which a cup is applied to the skin and the pressure in the cup is reduced (either by heat or suction) in order to draw and hold skin and superficial muscles inside the cup. Sometimes, while the suction is active, the cup is moved, causing the skin and muscle to be pulled. This is called gliding cupping.

Cupping is applied to certain acupuncture points as well as to parts of the body that have been affected by pain, where the pain is deeper than the tissues to be pulled. Cupping has greater emphasis on the back acupuncture due to the ease with which it can be performed on the back. Most practitioners use the back shu points or bladder meridian and the dazhui. It is frequently used after acupuncture, blood letting, or plum blossom treatment."

It definitely felt weird!!  And as you can see it's drawn the blood to the top of my skin on my back, doesn't hurt though, not like a bruise.  Just looks nasty, like someone took a bat to my back :P  I'm heading back again at the end of this week for another session, the first one definitely helped loosen me up.

Sleepy??  Junior's night time face, too cute!!

Reckon he's comfy??

Dan starts his new position this coming Monday.  Yup, that's right, he got his promotion.  So he will be an assistant manager along side another assistant manager, no team leader/manager position/hierarchy anymore.  I think he's looking forward to it and looking forward to having some more authority to making those needed changes plus some more support.

Been doing plenty of wedding planning as of late.  I've made up a 'to do' list for each month leading up to the wedding, organized much?! ;)  hehe.  Hopefully everything should go smoothly and all should be ready to go on our big day :)  We're SO excited!!  It's going to be so much fun!!  And so beautiful!! :)

Can you believe Christmas is coming???  SO SOON!!  I can't.  I'm still in denial.  I let out an annoying sigh every time I walk into a shop and it's playing Christmas music, UGH!  Started beginning of Nov, WAY too early.  Although I am looking forward to our staff Christmas Party which is this coming weekend.  Get to get all dolled up and have free food and booze.  Will be nice to catch up with some people I haven't seen since I swapped departments and have a bit of fun of course :)

Dan's taken up boxing.  I'm thinking I need to do something to get some frustration out  (from work stresses)!  Someone said the driving range is good?!  But I don't think that's why he's doing boxing, he's on his third class and seems to be enjoying it.  Learning something different, having someone challenge him more.  Going with a couple guys he/we met at the dog park so that's good.

What else?!  There's so much that's been going on I can't even remember what we've been up to?!  Oh ya, we had family photos the other weekend, those should turn out interesting.  Just had them at the brother in-laws place, not professionally done, semi-professional I suppose (done by Dan's brother Andrew who has all the camera toys).  I suppose not too much else has been going on other then all that.  Working all these hours doesn't leave much time left for me to do other things and of course trying to keep on top of those everyday life chores.  I had the day off today, managed to get most things done which means this coming weekend Dan and I are free to chill out and have some fun together.  We were hoping to go for a kayak, but looking at the weather forecast it's supposed to be a bit cooler and rain :(  BOOOO!!  Of course, the weekend I have off :(  It was 32 C last weekend!  Sigh, we might go to the driving range, or hopefully a motor bike ride, lunch out, mini golf, who knows we might even decide just to stay home and do absolutely nothing which would be nice too.  We'll see.  Christmas party is Sun eve, so that leaves the weekend wide open.

Alright, since I can't seem to remember what else I wanted to write on this post I suppose I should have some dinner.  Love to you all xx  Hope life is treating you well.  Oh, can't forget this:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE STEVE!!  (only a few days late;) xxxx  Hope you got spoiled with love :)

Chugging along...

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  (hehe, one of my favourite photos:)

Dan & Junior <3 p="p">

Some shots of Dan's Mum's (Sussie) garden, so gorgeous.

His favourite toy, a stick.

Thought this one was pretty cute, especially with his tongue hanging out :)  You can see the tiredness in his eyes, absolutely loves going up to the in-laws and wears him out pretty quickly all that smelling, running round and mulching :P

So we enjoyed a lovely weekend away.  Friday night (our anniversary) we went out for dinner and a movie which was nice.  Saw 'End of Watch', was a bit different but still really good.  About two city cops in a very gang populated area.  So that evening was nice a chill, enjoyed each others company :)

We headed up to Warburton mid-morning Saturday, stopped in Warburton for some lunch and a little stroll around, was a gorgeous day out, both days were! :)  We got some wedding plans in place, yippeee!  Spent most of Saturday afternoon/evening making some decisions together which was nice to get some of it done.  Sunday was pretty chill, Dan chopped some wood, looked a few more wedding things and then Dan's parents came home just after lunch, so we had a nice catch up with them.  Then home time to get ready for work the next day :(  It was probably around 30 C on Sunday, not sure what it was Sat, around there too, SO nice :)

My head hurt after work yesterday that's for sure!  A LOT to take in on the first day, didn't realize how many different computer systems they use, will get the hang of it soon enough I'm sure :)  The first couple weeks are always the hardest.  But the team seem really easy going so far and my management team are supportive which always helps.  I'll let you know how it goes over the next couple of weeks.  Hard to judge it from only working one day.

Well, best get going, have to finish up in the garden before this lovely sunshine goes away for the day.  xx

Happy Six Year Anniversary!

All good things must come to an end.  Although it didn't always seem good, over all it was really good.  Had my last day in IKEA Food today :(  I am sad to be leaving such a great group of people (yes I will still see them around the store, but not be working closely with them anymore, will have a new team to get to know).  Had a 'farewell' today with all of IKEA Food leadership team, my new manager in Customer Relations, the store manager and some co workers.  Was really nice!  Some very endearing speeches were made, it really makes me feel appreciated which is such a great feeling.  It is nice to be recognized and rewarded for all my hard efforts, one of the reasons I love IKEA so much (the opportunities for those who want and work hard for them) and of course all of the people I work with.

I suppose I should enjoy my weekend of 'empty brain'.  (in between jobs so I have no stresses right now, finished with one and have yet to start the next:)

Dan and I 6 year Anniversary today:

Happy 6 years to such a wonderful and amazing person!  I love you beyond words, you are my anchor in life and always will be.  I'm so lucky to have met you on this day 6 years ago, I can't imagine my life without you in it, sharing every moment, every emotion.  Who knows what our future holds, all I know is it looks pretty damn exciting! xoxoxox

Not sure what the plan is yet for tonight, waiting for Dan to get home from work first.  Tomorrow we plan to head to Warburton for the night/weekend.  Dan's parent's are up North for a little while, so we thought we'd take advantage of a little getaway together this weekend.  So nice and peaceful up there, away from the hussle and bussle in the mountains/countryside, will be an 'ahhhhhh' weekend.  We plan to just relax, hopefully get a few wedding plans in place, maybe a nice walk somewhere (there's some great trails around that area so hopefully the weathers nice and we can take Junior for a stroll).  That's pretty much the weekend there, I'm SO looking forward to it :)

Got me some new glasses the other day.  Two for the price of one, gotta like it! :)  I think I look quite studious.  Will be needed if I meant to stare at a computer screen all day every day during studies.  If I get a good photo of myself in them I'll put it up ;)

Still waiting to receive my letter of offer from school, was supposed to get it a week-week and a half ago, hopefully it comes this coming week.  Need to get a few things in order so I'm able to actually study.  I'm so excited to do this!  I was having a chat with the store manager Innes the other day, he seemed pretty excited that I'm going to study Graphic Design and hopefully get into Comm&In (communications & interior design) afterwards, he said there's some great opportunities there be it I fill in while people are away in other countries working on projects or I myself get to go to other countries like China, Sweden, etc to work on projects.  Mel, the Graphic Design manager is in Sweden right now for 2.5 months working on a project and a few girls went to China not to long ago to help open a new store.  Pretty exciting!!  Let's hope it all works out for the best.

Junior in his favourite spot.  He had just woken up, but you could never tell....hehe

So we had a bit of a prank week at work, had to get in my last jokes before I left.  It all started at the beginning of the week when I sticky taped all the mouses down in the office (hehehe:).  When Con & Peter came in the next day they had a good laugh at that.  So before they left that day they decided to demolish the office incl: the chairs and my computer area.  Very funny (I work with a bunch of children?!).  So that night before I left, I put tape on the bottom of all of the mouses, so when they try to use them it doesn't register on the computer b/c the tape is blocking the laser on the bottom (hehehehe:).  Well, luckily I got the last prank b/c I think they gave up after that. (I hope?!).  I did have to watch my back all day today b/c I wasn't sure if I was going to walk in on anything or not :P

Well, best sign off, time to get on with this weekend, oh, I get two weekends in a row off too!! :D  yeehaa!  With my roster changing in the this new role I start Monday it works out that I get two off in a row, VERY excited about that :D  Chow for now xxx